Search form

You are here

David's first starter

David's first starter

Let me detail how I started my first starter.

I took some 2 year old Carl's dried starter and rehydrated it according to package directions. I used white unbleached bread flour and tap water which is not overly chlorinated..that is it does not taste of chlorine.

Day 1--no action.

Day 2--inoculated with one tablespoon of starter to 1 cup of water and 1.5 cups of flour.

Day 3--inoculated with one tablespoon of starter to 1 cup of water and 1.5 cups of flour...tiny bubbles throughout.

Day 4--inoculated with one tablespoon of starter to 1 cup of water and 1.5 cups of flour. ..fewer tiny bubbles.

Day 5--inoculated with one tablespoon of starter to 1 cup of water and 1.5 cups of flour--nothing after 12 hours. no bubbles. looks dead.

Hmmmmm, from the description it certainly sounds like Carl's starter was quite dead. You are essentially starting a brand new starter. :) Anyway, the Whole Wheat flour you added has lots of bran in it, the skin of the wheat berry. On the skin there are yeast(s) and cultures that are starting to munch on the starch that is in your starter from the white flour. So you are well on your way. You may consider giving your starter a stir, maybe every four hours or so, during the day of course. :) Although when I was starting my starter I actually dreamt about it. <blush> Oh well, I suppose there are worse things in life.

I think it was Dr. Ed Wood said that. My thought is that what he's revived may or may not be the same starter he found mouldering in the fridge.

I had a year old packet of Carl's and needed a starter NOW. So, in desperation I started it up. At the same time I started two more starters. One was the same as the Carl's reviveal, only with no Carl's. The other was my usual way of starting a starter, which I've written up at http://www.sourdoughhome.com/startermyway.html

The Carl's revival was the slowest to get going. After wasting flour in it for a week, I pitched it. The plain flour had started but wasn't very good. MY usual approach had started a decent starter that I am still using.

Having used Carl's a number of times, this is the only time I've had a failure with it, and I attribute that failure to having kept the starter lying around for a year before using it.

All in all, I agree with the two earlier posters. When you added the whole wheat flour, you started a new starter. You probably have a good starter, but it almost certainly isn't Carl's 1847 Oregon Trail Starter.

Hmm. That's a fairly high hydration. What is the consistency of your starter? If it lookslike crepe batter or even pancake batter it will have a much more difficult time doubling in volume. However, if it's a little dryer than that then it will have enough strength to double in volume after each feeding.

It's actually very very simple. In your next feeding add less water. If the starter is still too wet, add still less water on the feeding after that. Until you get your starter to the desired consistency. Since I bake once a week only, my starter is kept at the consistency of bread dough. Quite firm. This way I keep it the refrigerator and only need to feed it once a week.

in the container it's about 1.5 inches tall..it rose to around 2 inches after 16 or so hours.

i'm feeding it with less water and the same ap flour.

there are scant bubbles on top..(which i think is ok since the mixture is way thicker) when i stir it down after 12 hours there are a couple of air pockets beneath the surface and various sized bubbles though not as plentiful as when the mixture was a batter consistency.

what do i have to lose...carl's is on it's way and if I have to throw this out..oh well..

I have put almost two weeks into this. I've learned a lot.

I want to keep with it and just see what happens.

it smells yeasty and more sour today...there's definitely a tang that i haven't noticed before.

Dave as you turn your starter to a lower hydration the bubbles will go away. In your post you say that it rose 50% in 16 hours. Does that mean you are not feeding it every 12 hours? Because if you keep it outside on the counter feeding every 12 hours is a really good idea especially to a starter that is just getting on its feet. And since your starter is on a high hydration side it rips through the starch in the flour a bit faster than a stiffer starter.

Also if you do one more feeding in 12 hours and see a 50% or 100% rise, it is time to bake a test loaf and see if your starter is strong enough to leaven a loaf of bread.

OK I understand. One more thing. When my starter was on the counter, meaning outside of the fridge. The rise would happen within 2 hours of the feeding, and sometimes even within an hour of the feeding. This isn't necessarily how every starter behaves though, but the reason I'm saying this is to make sure you don't somehow miss the fact that your starter rose after being fed. Also looking for dough trails on the inside of the container can provide a clue.

Well everything really depends on your frequency usage. If you bake every day, then you'll be able to keep your starter on the counter top and feed it twice a day. And not worry about throwing anything away. However, if you are like many of us who bake once or at most twice a week, then the refrigerator begins to look as a better option. Since a refrigerated strter only needs to be fed once every 5 days, give or take a day or two. The flavors you speak of will develop in the refrigerator, albeit more slowly than perhaps on the counter top. However, as we know in bread baking faster is not necessarily always better. :)

Good Luck with your Big Tennis/Little Cannon Ball. :) You may have your first sourdough bread that you made yourself. Of course, my first loaf did not have the complexity or the roundness of flavor of the later loaves, but that's fine at this point we just want to see if your starter is on the right track and is able to leaven a loaf of bread. How it behaves will tell us a little more about where your starter is.

OK..I broke apart the tennis ball at 12 hours and it looked like some *seriously* overproofed dough. Gigantic holes throughout...smelled good enough to eat...smelled sour but more tangy than sour..if that makes any sense.

I replenished the tennis ball ..but this time it's not as dry. It is the same hydration as the dough I usually make...here's the proportions:

2 T tennis ball (very dry)

2.5 T water

9 T uap flour

rolled whole thing in wheat flour

I've had more action out of the starter since it's a lower hydration.

Still feeding twice a day.

I apologize for the absolute chaotic nature of the posts..but i'm flying by the seat of my pants.

When this is all said and done I will put it together in an organized blog format.

I have to go away for a couple of days..will take starter with me and replenish in hotel room ...I think i've crossed a line here. ;)

Follow The Fresh Loaf on:

All original site content copyright 2015 The Fresh Loaf unless stated otherwise. Content posted by community members is their own. The Fresh Loaf is not responsible for community member content. If you see anything inappropriate on the site or have any questions, contact me at floydm at thefreshloaf dot com. This site is powered by Drupal and Mollom.